Small Scale Military Headquarters

I live in the SF Bay Area, so I visited Jacques' ranch in Portola Valley to see his collection.
Very Impressive!
Probally the best news is that he is rebuilding a Panzer V Ausf A in the restoration shop (run by 5 full-time mechanics, each with their own no-limit Credit Card provided by Jacques) that looks like it is 66% complete. The turret is a complete reproduction, and the 75mm L/71 gun is from another Panther. The new Panther will be completely functional (except for the weapons - California state law), and will even have zimmerit paste applied to the chassis and turret sides. This Panzer is currently painted in "dunkelgelb(sp?)", but may have an eastern front "camo" job applied prior to roll-out, which should occur within 12 months.
Jacques also has a Panzer IV, with a 75mm L/56 gun (but no "Schurtzen"), which seems to be in the original Panzer Grey paint.
He also has a completely restored Stug III in dunkelgelb. According to the description posted in front of the weapon, Stug III's and IV's were responsible for killing more Allied tanks than any other German vehicle during WWII.
Mr. Littlefield has so many other AFV's, artillery pieces, and prime movers that you will have to post to ask me what else I saw. There were a lot of M4 Shermans and M48 Patton tanks (every variation you can imagine!)
My favorite vehicle was probally the Soviet IS-3, and the best impression about touring Jacques' museum is the tremendous size, weight, and bulk of the MBTs (Jacques' favorite tank is supposedly the 70+ ton British "Conquerer" that was built in limited numbers in the post-war period to "Counter" the IS-3).
STRYKER

Awesome trip! How did you go about visiting Littlefield's ranch? Do you have to make an appointment or can interested visitors just drop by? If it is fairly easy to get in and see the tanks, then I just might make a day trip up there from where I live in Fresno this summer!

Send him an email at PonyTrax@aol.com.
The tours are on Saturdays, and it may be a couple of months before he can schedule you in. You also might want to tell him about your AFV interests in the message.
I told him that my favorite tanks at Aberdeen (which I visited last year) were the 2 Panthers, and he sent me a reply the next day!
STRYKER

PS The first production M1A1 Abrahms (built around 1982) on display at Aberdeen is really cool too, but Mr. Littlefield can not buy one from the US Army right now because all the "extras" are needed in Iraq.

Do you have any pictures you can share?

I'd love to see that Panther being restored.

I am envious. After reading about his collection, I am going to plan a trip out to CA to see this when my son is a little older. Please post any pics you have and thanks for telling us about it.

Mike

For photos, go to this guy's website (he was at the tour).
You'll see more of the Panther in the restoration shop than I did!
He even sells the photos on CD-ROM.

http://www.toadmanstankpictures.com/

Too bad he couldn't of bought up the Aberdeen collection. At least those tanks would find a better fate than what they are currently suffering...

-Ski

Thanks for the link Stryker. Very Cool!

PS - I believe there is a fundraising effort underway to build an indoor facility for the Aberdeen tanks. You'd think that Jacques would donate some $$$ towards this effort. If they (Aberdeen) haven't yet approached him, they should.

I saw the tv special about this collection and would love to see it in person. I might make a trip out there from the Bay Area one day.

I saw the same special on the History Channel. Awesome.

I was in SFO two years ago to attend the MVPA Convention and couldn't get both me and my son a seat to see Littlefield's collection. He arranged special tours for the convention but seats were booked many months before the convention.

Our loss.

Maybe next year

TTT